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Today I was thinking about names and how family history is important to Anabaptist. A thought popped into my head about males without Anabaptist backgrounds who marry Anabaptist women.

Would the wife feel like part of her Anabaptist identity and heritage is taken away by taking his name?

Would it be frowned upon for the husband to take her surname instead?

Just something I thought would be a interesting discussion, thoughts?

if i'm not mistaken, and i may well be, i believe i notice different women using hyphenated last names, that reveal many of the well-known Anabaptist surnames (?) when i see this, i do wonder if it's for the purpose you describe. i've never spoken to anyone about it, or read about it.

occasionally, i read about a man considering taking his wife's surname .. but, these are typically movie stars, or such, where the wife's name is well known, and the inference is there because of her money or position. i don't believe it's caught on anywhere.

Haystack wrote:Today I was thinking about names and how family history is important to Anabaptist. A thought popped into my head about males without Anabaptist backgrounds who marry Anabaptist women.

Would the wife feel like part of her Anabaptist identity and heritage is taken away by taking his name?

This is the first time I ever heard this idea, but I'm very sure none of the ladies in my circle would feel that way. My wife had a common (in our area) Mennonite last name, and she was happy to take something not as common. I believe my sisters would actually prefer taking a nontypical last name.

Haystack wrote: Would it be frowned upon for the husband to take her surname instead?

Absolutely frowned on here. Even a hyphenated last name would be frowned on.

Some wives put their maiden name as their middle name on Facebook, but that's just there to make it easier for people to find them. Sometimes friends don't know about weddings and continue to use the old name to refer to someone, especially if she got married later in life.

But I never see any hyphenated names on the conservative side.

I did see a name once like "Rachel Yoder-Yoder". She married someone with the same last name but hyphenated it. I thought that was the funniest thing.

o.yeah. the Menno-humor thing.

Josh wrote:But I never see any hyphenated names on the conservative side.

I did see a name once like "Rachel Yoder-Yoder". She married someone with the same last name but hyphenated it. I thought that was the funniest thing.

I've always wondered what happens to the next generation of hyphenees. Will they be Rachel Yoder-Yoder Yoder-Yoder, or Rachel Yoder-Yoder-Yoder-Yoder?

ohio jones wrote:

Josh wrote:But I never see any hyphenated names on the conservative side.

I did see a name once like "Rachel Yoder-Yoder". She married someone with the same last name but hyphenated it. I thought that was the funniest thing.

I've always wondered what happens to the next generation of hyphenees. Will they be Rachel Yoder-Yoder Yoder-Yoder, or Rachel Yoder-Yoder-Yoder-Yoder?

I know that I was amiss by Swiss Brethren standards (who quite often marry a person with the same family name), but I would have never considered marrying someone with my same family name (Buller). I did get to know a girl with the same last name in college, and as far as we could trace it, we were not related. (But of course we were, because she was also Dutch Mennonite. I know that there are also Jewish, English, and even African-American people with the same last name. The historical origin of our name is a mystery beyond the 1500's.) A lot of people there at the Bible Institute thought we were brother & sister, actually bearing some resemblance. But I don't think I would have gotten to know her as well if I had considered dating her, because I was too shy for that type of a relationship. But having it "out of consideration" made her a safe one to be friends with. OK. Now you all can laugh.

I dated a girl whose ex boyfriend had the same last name as her. They were of no relation but even more strangely their families had connections in the same denomination's circles. (It is not a common surname at all.)

Now it is embarrassing for both of them so I would say Nero is on the right idea - date someone with a different last name. Makes life less complicated!

Do you all know what your last name means? I am of Swedish-German descent. My surname means "thunder". If you are familiar with the old tune of Rudolph the red nosed reindeer, then you will remember hearing my name in there. "...on Donner & Blitzen..." which means thunder and lightning.
So, I am quite literally one of the sons of Thunder in my family...

gcdonner wrote:Do you all know what your last name means? I am of Swedish-German descent. My surname means "thunder". If you are familiar with the old tune of Rudolph the red nosed reindeer, then you will remember hearing my name in there. "...on Donner & Blitzen..." which means thunder and lightning.
So, I am quite literally one of the sons of Thunder in my family...

Your handle should be "Boanerges."